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Inslee statement on EPA repeal of Clean Power Plan

October 9, 2017

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"By repealing the Clean Power Plan, President Trump and his EPA administrator are recklessly removing any meaningful, science-based federal restraint on the carbon pollution that power plants are allowed to pump into our atmosphere. The United States Supreme Court has ruled on three separate occasions that the EPA has a responsibility, under the Clean Air Act and other federal laws, to protect American communities from harmful carbon pollution. The Clean Power Plan was constructed to give states the flexibility to choose its own path to a clean energy future, and hold each state responsible for reducing carbon pollution. This decision by the EPA instead rejects science and directly threatens Americans’ health and well-being.

"Washington state is already feeling the harmful and costly effects of climate change – in more devastating wildfire seasons, strained water resources, increasingly acidic coastal waters, and more. And we are taking action to respond: at my direction, the Washington State Department of Ecology has implemented the nation’s first Clean Air Rule, to limit carbon pollution from our state’s largest sources. We are investing in new clean energy technologies – fueling jobs and business growth in an area with tremendous economic opportunity. We are partnering with other states – through the bipartisan United States Climate Alliance – to fill the void left by the Trump Administration’s total abdication of American leadership.

"This action by the EPA is a setback in the struggle against climate change, but it will not and cannot stop Washington state and our determined allies in the fight against this existential threat."

U.S. Climate Alliance statement on EPA repeal of Clean Power Plan

The United States Climate Alliance issued the following statement on reports that the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) will repeal the Clean Power Plan:

"Today's proposal by the U.S. EPA to repeal the Clean Power Plan would take our nation in the wrong direction. As communities around the world recover from devastating hurricanes and wildfires, now is not the time to retreat in the fight against climate change.

“The U.S. Climate Alliance remains committed to meeting the Clean Power Plan targets. While the federal government steps backward, states will press ahead to confront the existential threat of climate change.”

The United States Climate Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of 14 states and Puerto Rico who are committed to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, and who are united in confidence that coordinated state action can ensure that the U.S. continues to contribute to the global effort to address climate change.

Alliance states are leading the country in combatting climate change through policies that encourage investment in clean energy, energy efficiency and climate resilience. Last month the Alliance released a report demonstrating that its members are collectively on track to meet and possibly exceed their portion of the U.S.’ commitment under the Paris Agreement.

According to the report, the Alliance members together achieved a 15 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, between 2005 and 2015 alone, and have attracted nearly $100 billion in renewable energy investments in their states, since 2011. Today, Alliance states are home to 1.3 million clean energy jobs, account for 40 percent of U.S. GDP, and outpace the rest of the country in economic growth.